Retort



June 2, 1925. 1,540,662

' E. G. STONE RETORT Filed sept, 22, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 jiu/061W l'June .2, 1925.

E. G. STONE RETORT Filed Sept. 22, 1924 MAQMA lllt June z, 1925.1,540,662

E.y c;A STONE RETORT Filed Sept. '22 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 In n 'for I.Sfr) )1 Mar I l f other Iso ' suitable mechanism,

tion.l

adapted to be heated for Patented June 2, 1 925.

`EIIDW-ARD GILES STONE, OF DEVONPORT, TASMiANIA, ASTRALIA.

RETORT.

To all lwhom z't may concern.:

Be it known that I, EDWARD Gines STONE, a subject of the King of GreatBritain and Ireland, residing at Devonport, Tasmania, Commonwealth ofAustralia, havel invented certain new and useful Improvements inRetorts, of which the following is especificato `retort apparatus thepurpose of distilling ground shale,whereby hydrocarbon oil gasescontained inthe shale may be volatilized and conducted from the retort aaratus to a suitable condenserand a scruber to` recover incondensiblegases as well as products to be derived from the shale. Though theinvention is intended primarily for treating ground shale, it is to beunderstood that it is also applicable for use in the retortin of othersubstances. Thev invention will, owever, be described in connection withthe retorting of ground shale. Referrin to the accompanying ldrawingsinwhich te invention is illustrated;

a longitudinal sectional view of the entire apparatus.

This invention relates F ig. 2 is a similar enlarged viewA of-'the/lower end portion of oneof the retorts.

Fig. 3 is a similar view ofthe upper end portion of one of the retorts.i

-Fig. 4 is a side view of one end portion of one of the retorts withcertain parts omitted.

F ig. 5 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of onel ofthenretorts,

illustrating av portion -of' the mechanism forcleaning the same.

)Vhen the shale has it is fed by means of a suitable hopper l to theupper retort -2 of a `series of inclined retorts. Preferably there arethree inclined retortsI 2, 3 and r4, each being arranged above andinclined toward the others, whereby material may be :ted by gravity fromone retort to the other.

`The retorts are rotatably carried on rollers or other suitable bearingsand they may be' rotated by any preferred means, end thrust rollersbeing also provided.-

It .is necessary, however, in connection with certain rotor-tingoperations that the ends of' the retorts be furnished with gas tightjoints. For this purpose, the upper ends of the retort tubes may beprovided with apertured end plates 7 sr-Vering flared .take-offs 7drelatively to the retorts,

vbetween the flanges 'l'a and 7c ldriven from any of the Application measeptember a2, im. serial No. 739,167.

flanges 7v bolted thereto, and the lower ends of the retorts may beprovided with closure sleeves 7". The flanges 7 contact with flanges7*.on the va or take-offs 7d, while the sleeves 7*" extendp into annulargrooves in lower end plates 8. The flanged vapor and end plates 8 formclosure means for the. ends of the tubes and these parts are carried bymovable trucks 5 and 6, which hold'the parts Fand '8 stationary duringthe rotation of the retorts.

The upper end trucks 5 are adjustable and the flange 7 of the uppermostVapor talrefoff 7d is prof vided with a chute 9, whereby ground shalemay be fed to the interiori of the retort 2.

n oil gas receiving channel ll, is

of each retort, and such oil-gasv may be withdrawn from saidv channel toan outlet pipe 12- (provided on the said trucks 5) by any suitableexhausting apparatus and be thereby transferred to a condenser and ascrubber (not shown), from which incondensible gases are conveyed to areceiver.

The constructions of the reinovableadjustable trucks 6 (see Fi 2) forthe lower ends of the retorts is ifferent from the trucks 5, as thelower end trucks cooperate with the closure plates 8 to seal the lowerends of the retorts'. Located near 'zo a formed each of the lower endtrucks 6 and car- Y to the chute 15 of the next lower retort. The

be rotated by any worm-conveyor 14 may suit-able means and said meansmay consist, as shown in Figs. 4 and retorts and gear connected to aspindle 47, which in turn is gear connected to the spindle of theconveyor 14. To permit the trucks 5 'and '6 to be adjusted relatively tothe parts 7d and 8 and to ensure gas-tight joints, a series of spiralysprings 42 may be arranged between each truck and the member 7d or 8which it carries (see Figs. 2 and 3). The retorts may be rotated byinstance by gearing connected to the spur wheels 43. The lower endtrucks 6 may be held in position by means o adjustable clamps 44 adapted4to grasp the rails 45.

If the ground shale which is being re- 5, of a spindle'46l any suitablemeans, for

los

Yas

torted is not required to be further retorted, it maybe fed from .thelower retort of the' inclined series direct to a hopper or the like.Should it be desired, however, to subject the shale to furtherretorting, it may`b'e fed to a horizontally disposed trough, or chamber16 having a rotatable worm-conveyor 17.

In certain cases it may be desirable to rovidemeans whereby the materialtreated in the retorts may by also the stirring means inner walls of theretorts may be cleaned and kept free from material adhering thereto. Thestirring means may consist of angle plates 32a fixed to the innersurface ,of the retorts, and the cleaning means may consist of a steamcylinder 83 (see Fig. 2) litt-ing the lower end trucks 6. The steamcylinders for each of the retorts outlets 33a and 33h respectively andeach carries a piston 3ft having a piston rod 35 to which isswivel-connected a spindle 36 which has fixed thereon a series of arms37 ada ted to act as Scrapers 32' an the inner surface of the retorttubes. The scrapers 37 and'their carrying spindles 36 rotate with theretortsand said Scrapers may be reciprocated when steam` is admitted tothe steam cylinder' 33 to operate the pistons 34, rods 35 and spindles36.

. Theinclined retorts may he heated in any suitable manner.

hey are preferably carried in a chamber 38 to which hot gases areadmitted from a flue 4l, the said hot gases being preferably directedaround the retorts by baffles 39 as indicated by the arrows in Fig. l.Certain of the incondensible gases derived from the shale may beutilized for supplying fuel for heating the retorts and it is preferredthat the lowest one of the retorts be arranged to receive the greatestamount of heat, the retort 3 a less amount and the retort 2 a still lessamount.

What l claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is;

l. Retorting apparatus comprising a rotatable element adapted to haveheat com'- municated thereto and inclined in such manner that materialfed thereto at one end will pas.- by gravity to an exit opening at thelother end thereof, means within such element for stirring the contentsthereof, means whereby volatile constituents derived from the materialhealed in said element may be vapor take-oli for said element carried bytruck, said oil-taire being movable tod and a way from the truclr, andresilient "ied by the, truck for forcing the 5,-' from' the truck andagainst if end of the rotatable element iigl'ier end. apparatuscomprising a rotatable element adapted to be heated and inbe agitatedand where-l as weil as the' have steam inlets and for the platesdischarged from the, latter, a truckarranged at the higher end of theelement,"

clincd in such manner that material fed into its higher end will flowtherethrough by gravity/means for stirring the, contents of saidelement, means for discharging volati'e constituents from the element, atruck arranged at the higher end of said element, a vapor take-offcarried by he truck and movable toward and away fiom the latter, andresilientmeans for forcing said take-off toward the higher end of therotatable element/'for closing said end, said high fr end of therotatable element and said take-olf including a channel into which thevolatile constituents from the rotatable element may collect .and bedischarged through the means for discharging volatile constituents fromthe element.

3. Retorting apparatus comprising a rotatable element adapted to beheated and inclined in such manner that material fedv thereto will flowthrough the same by gravity, means for stirring the contents of theelement', means for discharging volatile constituents from the element,a truck arranged at the lower end of the rotatable element, an end platearranged between the truck and Athe lower end of the rotatable elementfor closing the lower end of the rotatable element, said end plate beingmovable toward and away from the truck, resilient means carrier by thetruck for forcing the'end plate toward the rotatable element, and meansfor clamping `said truck in position relatively to said rotatableelement.

4. Retorting apparatus including a rotatable tube provided on its inneri surface' with longitudinally extending bars Alined to rotateI with theelement, AScrapers I arranged in the tube and adapted to slide along,the inner surface of'pthe latter for cleaning said inner surface andsaid bars` an axially lmovable and rotatable shaft conlnected to saidScrapers, an actuating rod for said shaft. swivel means connecting therod and shaft, and means for reciprocating said rod. v

5. Retortiug apparatus asi claimed in claim l in which the means forreciprocating said rodvincludes a cylinder arranged at one end of thetube, a pist-on mounted in the cylinder and connected to said rod, andmeans for introducing a. pressure mediuininto the cylinder andfordischarging the pressure medium from said cylinder.

6. Retin-ting apparatus including a chamber provided with internalbaffles for direct- ,f ing a rising heating gas vin a zig-zag path meansat one .end of said chamber for in/I trmlucing a heating gas into thesame, a superposed series of torts extending through the. chamber andhaving their ends arranged exteriorly of the chamber, closure means Aforeach end of fe/ach retort, a truck arranged at the end inclinedrotatable rel of each retort and carrying the closure `means at that endof the retort, resilient," retort for discharging volatile constituentsfr neans for forcing the closure Ameans to-l from each retort, and meansfor feeding the ward the ends ofthe'retorts, means for feedmaterial tobe treated into the upper end 1U ing'the material treated, from thelower end of the: uppermost retort.

of each' retort to the upper end of the re, In testimony whereof Ihereunto ax tort immediately below the same, means carmy signature.

trieti byvt-hetruck at the upper end of each EDWARD GILES STONE.

